100 metres Hurdles, Women

Running for the Unified Team in 1992, Lyudmila Narozhilenko had been favored in Barcelona, but pulled out after injuring a hamstring in the quarter-finals. In 1993 she had tested positive for anabolic steroids and was initially suspended for four years, until her husband admitted he had slipped the steroids into her protein powder. They divorced soon after and Narozhilenko married her Swedish coach, Johan Engquist. In 1993 and 1995 Gail Devers had won the World Championships, after pitifully falling across the finish line in Barcelona, and losing out on what seemed a sure Olympic gold medal. As in Barcelona, she had won the 100 metres gold medal and her speed was the best in the hurdle field by far. It was not certain that Narozhilenko-Engquist could compete but she was fast tracked to Swedish citizenship and the Russian Olympic Committee granted her permission to run in Atlanta for Sweden. In the final, Devers got off fastest. But Narozhileno-Engquist caught her at the sixth hurdle, as Devers struggled with her hurdling technique, but Engquist still trailed Slovenia’s Brigita Bukovec. However, she caught her on the last hurdle and won the gold medal by 1/100th of a second.

Engquist’s up-and-down career and life would continue. In 1999 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and in April of that year underwent a mastectomy and began chemotherapy. But she kept competing and at the 1999 Worlds, she finished third – with Gail Devers winning the title again. In 2001, doing well after her cancer, she switched to bobsledding but when pulled for a random drug test, admitted to taking steroids. Suspended for two years, her athletic career was then over.